xertioN: "In terms of the actual CS it's been pretty awful to be honest"

Today MOUZ locked in playoffs in the BLAST.tv Austin Major off the back of a scrappy 2-1 over heavy underdogs Legacy. For the number two team on the VRS, MOUZ's performance in Stage Three has not been to the high standard expected from the elite team — something Dorian "xertioN" Berman admitted coming out the win.

He spoke to Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore about the team's scrappy road to playoffs, the current level of play in the team, and his thoughts on playoffs, among other topics.

You can watch the full interview on YouTube below, or read the transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for clarity.

Congratulations on a scrappy win over Legacy. How are you feeling coming out of that three-map series versus Legacy?

It feels good but also a bit tiring because we have had so many close games in the last few days. We had to fight every time and I'm super proud that we did and I'm just happy we can say that we're in playoffs at this moment.

With that win you showed a great individual performance, but SPUNJ also noted on X that you have taken on some extra responsibilities in calling openings in this game. Can you explain what your leadership role was in this series?

Well I feel like I used to also do it when siuhy was in the team, but now on CT-sides for example I have more roles that require more talking so at the moment I'm really on our opening rounds on the CT-side and in mid rounds I basically control it.

Of course there are also great moments where Spinx or Brollan has some good ideas or torzsi [as well], but for me in the team right now my role is to bring some good ideas to Brollan to help him a bit on the T-side just like usual. I always did it before and it's part of my role.

I've always been a bit of a creative player and when I can bring good ideas I always try to do it.

You told BLAST after the Aurora game yesterday that the team is still working to get in gear. Do you feel like the team is fully in gear with playoffs locked in or is there still work to do?

Not at all. Mentally we played really good games but in terms of the actual CS it's been pretty awful to be honest. We played good on some maps, some maps we played bad, and I think that for playoffs we will need to step up a bit. But, we're not stressing about it and we are taking it game by game as it's also the last tournament of the [season].

Every team is tired and we are tired but we're not going to let that be an excuse so going into playoffs we know we have to step up and we're going to do it.

You have four days to prepare for playoffs so what will the priorities be before then?

We still need to talk about the focus as a team but I think the first step will be to just try to figure out why we're not playing our game right now, why it's not working and why it's not clicking for us, and what we can do better.

For me right now it's about seeing how we get there again.

With [Spinx] now on the roster for six months, is there any feeling that the honeymoon period is over or what do you think contributed to MOUZ coming into this Major less than stellar?

It's been a long season and I don't really believe in such a thing as a honeymoon. We also played in the playoffs or top-four at basically every tournament until now from Katowice. So for me it's never about the honeymoon, it's always about the work.

I think we put in good work and we wanted to enjoy the work now to kind of enjoy our flowers as you say. But we couldn't do it so hopefully for the playoffs it will come through, but we have been working super hard and doing everything right but we need to show up on the day and play the game.

Who are you most looking forward to playing in the playoffs and who are you worried about facing?

I'm a bit worried to face anyone at the moment of course, we're not playing our best but that's never going to change my mentality or the team's mentality. We're always going to come and do our best. For me it doesn't really matter who we play and I don't even know who we can play but just looking to see who we play and bring our A-game.